Oct. 10—WEST FRANKFORT, Ill. — Since Phil Zaccari took over the boys golf program at St. Anthony, the team has made it to the state tournament 19 times.
After Monday, the long-time head coach made it an even 20.
The Bulldogs won the Class 1A Zeigler-Royalton Sectional at Franklin County Country Club with a team score of 295. Breese (Mater Dei) was second with a 309 and Teutopolis was third with a 317. Both teams also advanced to the state tournament.
“That’s your ultimate goal,” said Zaccari on advancing to the state tournament. “That’s the goal every year you start. We want to play the last day and that’s a full season.”
The victory was St. Anthony’s ninth sectional crown under Zaccari’s watch. Four such years ended with state championships: 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2022.
Monday saw every golfer fire rounds in the 70s.
Zaccari felt that the course did play tough, though.
“The greens here are amazing,” Zaccari said. “You have to be very careful as far as reading these greens. There were a lot of subtle breaks. We were able to come down and play a couple of practice rounds and hit some extra putts; once you’ve figured that out, then it’s just keeping it in play and the boys did a pretty good job of keeping it in play.”
Junior Jack Swingler shot a one-under-par 70. He was three-under-par on the front nine and two-over on the back.
“Jack had an amazing round,” Zaccari said. “He had it going. He makes a bogey and then he goes, ‘OK. I’ll go birdie, birdie, eagle,’ and that set the pace. That kept us going. He played a masterful round today and was able to finish it and hang on.”
Swingler finished first individually.
“It was a rough start, but it was a grind,” Swingler said. “I was lucky to come out with a ‘W.'”
The highlight for Swingler was a hole-out from just around 95 yards on the par-4 fifth.
“That’s my first hole-out ever,” Swingler said. “It was 93 yards out and I hit it a couple of feet past the hole and it just spun back in. It was awesome.”
The eagle ended a four-under-par stretch for Swingler. He birdied the par-3 third and the par-5 fourth. He then birdied the par-5 fifth after a par on the par-3 sixth.
Junior Maddux Clark and senior Dakota Flaig each shot 74.
“Dakota’s a senior and he grinded it out,” said Zaccari of Flaig. “A lot of the seniors were just in grind mode today, but they have that experience and know how to do that. Dakota played a really good round, keeping it in play, making some pars and making some putts when he needed to.”
Flaig shot one-over-par on the front and two-over on the back.
Clark shot three-over-par on the front and even-par on the back.
“Maddux has been playing so steady; he’s been solid,” Zaccari said. “We’re getting to the point where we can count on Maddux to be in the mid-70s.”
The final score that counted was Alec Hakman’s 77.
Hakman shot three-over-par on the front and three-over on the back.
Joey Trupiano and Ryan Schmidt — both seniors — shot rounds of 78. Their scores didn’t count toward the team total.
“‘J.B.’ had a rough one,” said Zaccari of Trupiano. “He didn’t play as the ‘J.B.’ we know, but he was fighting through it, trying to grind. He had a little bit of trouble with his putting.”
Trupiano shot three-over-par on the front and four-over on the back. Schmidt shot five-over-par on the front and two-over on the back.
The Class 1A State Final Tournament begins next Friday at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington.
St. Anthony is looking for the program’s seventh state championship and third in a row.
Since the class system was installed by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) in 1975, five schools have managed to win three successive state titles: Carmi, Monmouth, Normal (University), Arlington Heights (St. Viator) and Hinsdale (Central).
The Bulldogs will look to be the sixth.
Alex Wallner can be reached at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.
